FFRF ensures NY town’s bicentennial celebration stays secular (August 23, 2013)

A New York town removed a prayer service from the town's government-sponsored bicentennial anniversary celebration, after being contacted by the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

The prayer service was slated to take place on September 7 at a historic site in Victor, N.Y. The prayer service would have been part of a larger series of events put on by the town's government to celebrate the town's incorporation.

FFRF Senior Staff Attorney Rebecca Markert sent a July 9 letter to Victor Supervisor Jack Marren urging him to follow the Constitution and not allow the town to endorse religion.

"It is a fundamental constitutional principle that public institutions cannot support, promote or otherwise endorse religion or engage in religious exercises," Markert wrote.

Marren responded to FFRF in an August 23 email. "The prayer service has been cancelled!" he wrote.